Asia Television and Television Broadcast have joined forces to lobby for at least another 10 per cent increase to the quota before the Government begins formulating terms for the renewal of terrestrial TV licences. Existing terrestrial licences are due to expire on December 2003.
The two stations have commissioned Asia Market Intelligence to compile a report on free TV services. They are hoping that the study will give an indication of the growing need to increase non-English programming and ad slots on their English channels.
The AMI study follows a separate piece of research conducted by ACNielsen for the Broadcasting Authority, which is using it as a reference source in formulating terms for the granting of terrestrial licences. In the AMI survey, 61 per cent of viewers said they wanted more non-English programmes to be shown, while 86 per cent said they did not mind watching Cantonese commercials during an English programme. Vincent Lam, vice-president, programme, at ATV, said it was essential to commission their own study to investigate what the audience wanted. "We hope that our survey would not only complement and supplement the Government survey, but also help to identify the expectations of the Hong Kong audience."
Currently, the stations are only allowed to broadcast two non-English TVCs each hour during the restricted time period (7pm to 11:30pm), while only 20 per cent of programming hours are allowed for non-English broadcast.
All the non-English commercial time also count towards the 20 per cent overall quota.
"We want the Government to increase the quota to 30 per cent daily and allow the stations to show at least two hours of non-English programmes weekly during the restricted hours, said Lam.
Stephen Chan, assistant general manager at TVB, added that language should be up to the advertiser. "The Government should not restrict the language an advertiser wants to use with its target audience."
Another issue that has stemmed from the results of the Broadcasting Authority's survey is the Government's proposal to institute a time schedule for the stations to provide English subtitles for all prime time programmes and news on the English stations to help improve the language proficiency of the people in Hong Kong. Chan disagreed. "If our channels were to carry both English and Chinese subtitling, one-third of the screen would be blocked."
In the AMI survey, 79 per cent of respondents said they use Chinese subtitling when watching English programmes without Cantonese NICAM. With NICAM, 53 per cent said they still used subtitling. AMI interviewed 1,057 respondents, while ACNielsen polled more 3,000 people in door to door interviews.
